Four winged aeroplane



- Feb. 23, 1932. I v c, DECKER 1,846,992

FOUR-WINGED AEROPLAN'E Filed May 5. 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet l E5191? afiwl'er',

ATTORNEY Feb. 23, 1932. v} D'ECKER 1 1,846,992

FOUR-WINGED AEROPLANE Filed May 5. 1931 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEV Feb. 23, 1932.

V. C. DECKER FOUR-WINGED AEROPLA NE Filed May 5 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 1/4,lllllllllllllllllllll m m I O u 0 k I u r 11111111 lllllllll 019 07 6'. Deckezg ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 23, 1932 VIRGIL CECIL DECKER, OF HARLINGEN'. TEXAS roua wnverm AEROPLANE Application filed; Ma 5, 1931. semi in. 535,219.

This invention reiates to improvements in aeroplanes and has for the primary object,

-' the provision of a novel arrangement of wings and propelling means associated with each l 6 wing that the balancing of the aeroplane under varying loads may be easily accomlished and that the-propelling forces may e evenly distributed upon the aeroplane thereby providing a safer and easier controlled aeroplane.

Another object of this invention is the provision of means, whereby the wings may be moved about the horizontal axis thereby varying the inclinations of the forward and rearward edges thereof and also the pro pelling means associated with each wing which permits the aeroplane to take off and land in comparatively small areas.

A further object of this invention is the provision of cushion landing gear that the aeroplane when on the ground will be yieldably supported,- so that in starting, the pro- .pelling means lifts alive' weight rendering the take off easier.

A further object of this invention is the provision of the wings arranged in forward and aft pairs with control means which permit simultaneous adjustment of all wings about horizontal axes or the adjustment of the aft pair of wings independently of the forward pairof wings to permit the plane to becon-veniently balanced for varying loads. With these and other objects in view as will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the fol-;

lowing description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating an aeroplane constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 isa top plan view tion illustrating the same.

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view illustrating the controls for the wings partly in secmore fully described and,

and thecushion landing gear, and taken on the line 33 of Figure Figure 4 is a front elevation illustrating the device.

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the connection of braces between the fuselage and the wings.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the controls.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a fuselage provided with a substantially conical shaped rear portion 2 carrying the usual control means 3 and reference to the'latter specifically is not thought necessary asv the same is of a conventional type. The forward end of the fuselage 1 is tapered as shown at 4. By reference to Figure 1 it will be seen that the fuselage is of elongated formation and aflording considerable carrying space and is supported by front and rear running gears 5 and 6. The landing gears include members 7 secured to the fuselage 1 and arranged transversely thereof and slidably receive vertical standards 8 carryingat their lower ends axles 9 on which are ournalled ground wheels 10 and coiled springs 11 are interposed between the members 7 and axles 9,. to cushionly support the fuselage,'and the axles are further connected to the fuselage by braces 12 having pivotal connection with the fuselage as shown at 13.

Forward and aft pairs of wings 14 and 15 are'associated with the fuselage as clearly shown .in Figure 2 and eachwing has the [usual aileron 16 and the aft wings are slightly shorter in length than the forward wings. Tubular members 16 extend into the wings which are of hollowformation and have their inner ends journalled in the sides of the fuselage while their outer ends terminate in gear housings 17 confined between the walls of the wings. Forwardly extending tubular members 18 are connected to the gear housings 17 and extend through the forward edges. of the wings and are provided with suitable hearings to rotatably support propeller shafts 19, the outer ends of wh1ch have fixed thereto propellers 20 located in advance of the forward edges of the win s andsubstantially intermediate the en s thereof. The inner ends of the propeller shafts 19 have secured thereto gears 21 that mesh with gears 22 located in the gear housings and are secured to the outer ends of power shafts 23 vid-ed intermedlate its ends with a power transmitting device 26 of a conventional type.

A power shaft 27 is driven from the power transmitting device 26 and carries at its ends gears 28 confined within the gear housings 24 and in mesh with gears 29 secured to the inner ends of the shafts 23, thus it will be seen that the propellers are all driven from a single power transmitting device 26.

The tubular members 16 that connect the wings to the sides of the fuselage 1 are mounted in'suitable journals or bearings 30 whereby the wings may be tilted about a horizontal axis through a suitable control means 31. Diagonally extending upper and lower braces 32 are suitably secured at their inner ends to the fuselage 1 while theiriouter ends are so connected to the wings that the latter may be tilted in either direction about a horizontal axis and as shown at 33. I

The wing control means 31- includes transversely arranged. front and rear shafts 34 journalled in the sides of the fuselage and have secured to their outer ends sprockets 35 over which are trained endless sprocket elements 36. The sprocket endless elements 36 are trainedover sprockets 37 fixed to the tubular members 16. Disks 38 are secured to the shafts 34 and have control rods 39 eccentrically pivoted thereto and the control rods are in turn pivotally connected to control levers 40 associated with a quadrant 41 movably'mounted through a member 42 carried by a quadrant 43 of the fixed type and which has associated therewith a control lever 44. The lever 44 is connected to the member 42 and will permit variance in the position of the quadrant 41 to impart movement to the rods 39 which cause simultaneous adjustment of the wings about horizontal axes.

The movement of the levers 40 will permit adjustment of either the frontor aft wings independently of each other thereby permitting a proper balancing of the aeroplane-in accordance with load variance.

To aid the aeroplane in taking off, the wings are adjusted from a substantially horizontal position to a position wherein the forward edges of the wings are disposed in a plane above the rear edges or in a substantially vertical position thereby positioning the propellers in substantially horizontal positions above the forward edges of the wings and the air from'the propellers passed downwardly over the side faces of the wings and create a ,vacuum at the lower rear edges of the wings thereby permitting the plane to rise from the ground in a comparatively small distance and as the plane reaches the proper elevation, the

wings with their propellers are adjusted into substantially horizontal positions.

When desiring to descend or land in a comparatively small space, the wings can again be tilted and with the motive power decreased on the propellers, the wings will then act as brakes and allow a gentle descent of the aeroplane to the ground with comparative ease and permit the landing to be made on an area of small size.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my inventionit will be understood that minor changes in construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

'An aeroplane comprising a fuselage, horizontall disposed tubular members journalled to the uselage, wings carried by said tubular members and of hollow formation with the tubular members located between the walls of the wings, a power transmitting device in the fuselage, shafts journalled in the tubular members and connected to the power transmitting'device, forwardly extending tubular members connected to the first named tubular members and extending through the forward edges of the wings, propeller shafts journalled in the second named tubular members and connected to the first named shafts, propellers connected to the propeller shafts, and a control means connected to the first named tubular members for tilting the wings.

In testimony whereof I a-ffix my signature.

' VIRGIL CECIL DECKER. 

